When someone has been in the routine of the academic school year for decades, it becomes their routine of life.
For John Keating, this is his 35th school year teaching and his final. Retiring from teaching is a bittersweet feeling for Keating being a part of the Lakeland Joint School District 272 for the past 28 years.
“All of us, we find patterns in our life, and it makes our life go easier, and I’m going to lose that pattern, so for a little while, it is going to take some adjusting,” he said.
Teaching was a path Keating did not know he would take. He originally attended the University of Idaho and received a political science and history degree. After graduating, he realized his majors would not benefit him much, so he decided to go back to school.
“For me, I thought I had two choices and that was to go to law school or go back to school to become a certified teacher,” Keating said. “I really enjoy, as a person, the rhythm of the year. We come back to school in the fall every year, and we get a break around the major holidays in the middle of the year. There’s just a rhythm to working in the public school system that is just very pleasant.”
The expense of law school played a key role in his choice, as well as the appeal of becoming a teacher. The specific pattern a school year follows was also of interest to Keating.
“I like working with young people,” Keating said. “I’m good at it… It sounded like a fun way to live a life and raise a family to have summers off.”
So, he returned to school and received a Master’s degree in school administration.
Through the years, Keating has bounced around from Mountain View, Lakeland Junior High School and Lakeland High School. His positions have also changed over the years. He has taught a wide range of classes, from math to social studies.
Besides the classroom, he served as the vice principal for six years and principal for two years at Lakeland Junior High. After being principal, Keating was eager to get back to the classroom in the fall of 2006.
“I didn’t dislike it, but I liked being in the classroom a lot more,” Keating said. “I didn’t leave administration. I came back to the classroom.”
Teaching is something Keating finds pride and joy in. He enjoys the memories he has made, the friends and the students he has seen become successful.
“There’s been lots of funny moments in classes working with kids and humorous things,” Keating said. “I’ve been at three different buildings with three different jobs. I’ve enjoyed those changes that every five or eight years, I became something new, I did a new job in a new building and I have enjoyed that.”
After retirement, although he will have to get used to the new schedule, he is excited about his free time. Keating plans to travel with his wife, specifically to Ireland and England. On top of traveling, he plans to catch up on his personal hobbies.
“I do a lot of reading in my career, so I’d like to catch up on reading some pleasure books because I don’t read much when I get home,” Keating said. “I do so much of it as a job. It’s not fun anymore. But I do like to read good books, so I will be doing a lot of that.”
Students at LHS will miss Keating and the impact he has on them. Although Keating usually only teaches seniors and his students leave the next year, students feel for the students who will never have him as their teacher.
“He’s given a lot of years to Lakeland, so I would understand why he wants to retire,” Oliver Everett said. “I hope he has a very fun time. He has a very unique way of teaching in a sense that everything feels conversational and doesn’t feel like he’s at all talking down to you. He’s a cool dude.”
Staff at LHS will also feel a loss in Keating’s absence. Michael Dunn, an English teacher at LHS, has taught for five years. In all five years, Keating has been a role model for him, so Keating being gone will be a surreal experience.
“Mr. Keating has been one of the more influential people when it comes to my teaching career,” Dunn said. “He’s helped me navigate the first several years and is always somebody who I come to whenever I need advice regarding education. He’s a great teacher and a better human.”
